From the May 8 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
Fox & Friends downplays blockbuster NY Times story on Trump's billion-dollar business losses
Ainsley Earhardt: “If anything you read this and you're like, wow, it's pretty impressive all the things that he's done in his life. It's beyond what most of us could ever achieve”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Meanwhile, this blockbuster story probably went across your updates last night on your iPhone or your iPad. This says The New York Times got ahold of 10 years of the president's, some of his businesses' tax returns, and it shows that he lost a lot of money over the course of 10 years, if you consider $1 billion a lot of money. But I found the reading of this article fascinating.
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AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): When we go out to do man on the street and ask people if they care, if they want to see his tax returns, about 50% say yes, 50% say no. But does it really matter now? He's already elected. People like what he's doing with the economy. Maybe it's just information that would be interesting. But will it really sway voters?
STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Well it's from 20 and 30 years ago. The New York Times, the headline says “core businesses absorbed over $1 billion in red ink from '85 through '94.” And when you look at the New York Times story, what's interesting is they do say that they got the information, 10 years worth of tax stuff, from someone with legal access. And the question is who would that person be? Could it be somebody in the family? Could it be somebody at the Trump Organization? Could it be somebody who is in his accountancy firm? A lawyer? Could it be somebody in the federal government?
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KILMEADE: He's a bold businessman, which is chronicled here. There's nothing about this article that should surprise anybody that got the Daily News and New York Post throughout the last 10 years, it just gives details.
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KILMEADE: For you or I, maybe buying a summer home is a big move, or maybe even a trailer. But for Donald Trump, he says I got some money but I want to really expand my empire. I want to take chances. That's what he's done through his entire life as a personality, as a host, as a businessman. And guess what? Not all of us win on everything we buy.
EARHARDT: I think that's how the voter feels.
KILMEADE: Absolutely.
EARHARDT: They realize he's a billionaire. He was campaigning on the trail with his plane behind him that's as big as a Delta jet, with his name on it. It is -- we can't even fathom that kind of money. So I'm sure that they -- if you have that kind of money, you look at tax laws. You buy things to take a loss so that you make more the next year. But that's not how most of us think. So I think it's interesting to read this article. It's interesting to see that he had a $29 million boat, or that he had this.
DOOCY: That's a big boat.
EARHARDT: Yeah. But I don't think it's going to sway anyone at the polls if the economy's doing well.
KILMEADE: It intrigues me more actually.
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EARHARDT: If anything you read this and you're like, wow, it's pretty impressive all the things that he's done in his life. It's beyond what most of us could ever achieve.
DOOCY: I don't know that there's any suggestion that he broke the law. I think the suggestion is simply that he used the tax laws to his benefit.
KILMEADE: As if you buy something and it doesn't pan out right away, or ever, you're a loser. No, you take shots. You have an opportunity to do things. That's the way he lived. The reason why we all knew Donald Trump's name is for 30 years, that's what he did. He bought towers, hotels, golf courses. He did it in other countries. What do people not understand about that he's a little bit different than most people?
Related:
NY Times: Decade in the red: Trump tax figures show over $1 billion in business losses
Previously:
Fox & Friends worries about federal raid of Michael Cohen: What if Trump's tax returns were seized?
Fox plays defense for Trump after Democrats ask the IRS for his tax returns